from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From un- +‎ pleasant.

Examples

"We do not," says a novelist in one of Mr. Moore's books, "we do not always choose what you call unpleasant subjects, but we do try to get to the roots of things; and the basis of life being material and not spiritual, the analyst sooner or later finds himself invariably handling what this sentimental age calls coarse."

Todd Seavey and Helen Rittelmeyer, apparently once an item of sorts, had both contributed essays to Jonah Golberg's new book, "Proud to be Right," and were selected to speak -- in unpleasant proximity -- on the book's behalf at a Georgetown University forum.

The site boasts material that didn't make it into the books, such as 5,000 words about which woods should be used to make magic wands and anecdotes about where Rowling found inspiration: why she called an unpleasant character "Petunia", for example.

In either case, the speaker is not threatening to do anything to the listner, but merely warning that what the listener is doing will (as the speaker believes) result in unpleasant consequences beyond the control of either of them.

All I will say is that I am damn sure that I do not read the publications that you automatically assume that all soldiers read and that I have spent a very large portion of my career in unpleasant places doing extremely unpleasant things.